Author Archive

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Bulletin – December 28, 2014

Sunday, December 28th, 2014

Father help us to live as the Holy
Family, united in respect and love.

The greatest blessing you bring to your family is the presence of God in your life.
The fragrance of His presence sweetens the atmosphere of your home.
The beauty of His presence warms the relationships within its walls.
The joy of His presence lightens every heart.
The glory of His presence fills all its chambers with rare and precious treasures.

“From God’s Heart to Yours” by Roy Leesin

Let us pray for one another.
May God bless you and yours throughout this Christmas Season.
We wish you a happy and peaceful
New Year and always try to remember
“Holiness is in the ordinary.”

FROM THE DESK OF FR. BRANDO

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

A big thank you to those who decorated our church beautifully. Thank you also to the musicians who provided us with lively music, to the lectors who proclaimed the Word, to the altar servers who are always available when needed, to our hospitality ministers who welcome everyone with a ready smile and to all our generous parishioners who always make me grateful for the goodness of the Lord.

May my gratitude to all of you create a vision for tomorrow. Have a great and wonderful New Year!

Fr. Brando

Christmas Schedule 2013

NEW YEAR’S EVE – Wednesday, December 31st
No 9:00 AM Mass
Mass at 4:30 PM for the Feast of Mary the Mother of God
Office Open 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM only

NEW YEAR’S DAY – Thursday, January 1st
FEAST OF MARY THE MOTHER OF GOD
10:30 AM
12:30 PM
Office Closed

Parking

While parking at ground level is limited to 51 spaces, there is plenty of space in the underground parking lot. Please follow the instructions of the attendants. Do not park in front of the Church since this is a fire route and must be kept clear.

Additional parking is available on the east side of Elkhorn Public School and in the bus loop. Again, please follow the instructions of the attendant. The school requests that we do not park on the grass. Many thanks to Holly Richards, the Principal of Elkhorn Public School, for allowing us the use of the school property.

ANNOUNCED MASSES

December 29th, 2014 to January 3rd, 2015

MONDAY – MRS. WAI KING TSANG – Requested by Pauline & Linda
TUESDAY – FRANCISCO & MA. ROSARIO CALIMBAS – Requested by Estrella, Cherrie, Stella & Isabel
WEDNESDAY – NEW YEARS EVE
THURSDAY – NEW YEARS DAY
FRIDAY – MELENCIO YAO – Requested by Susana Yao
SATURDAY – Mr. & Mrs. WONG SANG MOU – Requested by Catherine Soong

CASSEROLES FOR THE GOOD SHEPHERD CENTRE

Your prepared casseroles (frozen please) will be collected at the Masses on the weekend of January 3rd/4th for delivery to the Good Shepherd Centre.

More volunteers are needed to help feed the hungry in our city. Please get a copy of a casserole recipe and a pan and give it a try.

Three recipes are available on St. Gabriel’s web site. Printed copies of the recipes are also available in the Parish Office. Please remember to mark the label on the pan lid with the
name of the casserole. For more information, you may contact Irene Albrecht at 416 221-2791.

MOSAIC INTERFAITH Social Justice: Is It the Way to Peace?

Sunday January 18th at 2:00 PM

Temple Har Zion, 7360 Bayview Avenue, Thornhill

“Mosaic Interfaith invites you to attend the Annual Program in honour of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior. The topic this year is “Social Justice: Is it the Way to Peace?”. The program will be held at the Temple Har Zion at 7360 Bayview Avenue, Thornhill on January 18, 2015; from 2:00 to 4:00 PM” Please RSVP to Tina at 416 897 1544 by Thursday January 15th. For more information see the poster on the bulletin board.”

FINANCE CORNER

The Parish’s 2014 budgeted operating expenses average $14,550 per week.

Offertory Collection for last weekend:

Envelopes 418 $11,864
Loose Change 922
Weekly Portion of Pre-Authorized Giving 164 3,058

Total 582 $15,844

If you are a regular Parish member and you do not contribute to the Offertory collection, the Finance Council reminds you that “the financial burden of the Parish is the responsibility of each and all parishioners to the extent that your means allow”.

For those parishioners who contribute to the offertory on a regular weekly basis, we thank you for your constant support.

Have you considered using PAG or Donate Now?

OFFERTORY ENVELOPES FOR 2015

The 2015 Offertory Boxed Envelopes are available in the Gathering Space. Please pick yours up as soon as possible. If you have a PAG or Donate Now account, you will still receive a smaller green box of envelopes since these include Initial, New Year’s, Christmas, Easter and Maintenance envelopes. You may contact the Parish Office if you do not have envelopes but would like a box for 2015.

Please note: All donations for 2014 must be received in the Parish Office by Tuesday, December 30th 2014 or they will not be included in your 2014 Tax Receipt.

Posted in Bulletin | Comments Off on Bulletin – December 28, 2014

Homily – December 25, 2014

Thursday, December 25th, 2014

Have you ever noticed that when an infant is brought into a room he or she immediately becomes the center of attention? There are all kinds of compliments about how cute, adorable, sweet he or she is. The infant is passed around from person to admiring person. Kissed and tickled. Then he or she is immediately returned to the mother if there is an accident.

Today the attention and worship of billions of Christians are centered on an infant, Jesus, the son of Mary, the babe of Bethlehem. We are in awe that our God comes to us as a fragile, helpless infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a feeding trough. This infant is the center of attention of his parents, the shepherds and the angels of God. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in him this night.

Christmas is usually a children’s feast. There are toy drives everywhere – no child should be without a toy. Parents take great delight as they watch their young ones rip open their gifts and hear their squeals of happiness as they show what they got from Santa.

Children are our greatest possession. They bring us joy, they bring us grief but they are our future. We find it incomprehensible when we hear stories of mothers or fathers killing or abusing their children as happened in Australia this past week. Yet we know it happens. We ask ‘how could any rational human being go from class room to classroom slaughtering 140 children, snuffing out young and promising lives as happened in Pakistan. Imagine the grief of the mothers and fathers of these innocents. Imagine the relief and the joys of the mothers and fathers of those children who survived that dreadful day. They probably squeezed their sons and daughters so tightly. They appreciated as never before how much they loved their children and how precious they were to them.

On this feast of the Christ Child on this feast of children as you parents and grandparents celebrate this day with your children could you use this day and time to make a promise that you will treasure your children, especially the older ones, they are the one that can cause you grief and challenge your patience? My mother used to say to my brothers and me,’ the older you get the worse you get.’ She was always so affirming. It is so important that you pass on your values to you children, especially the values of our Christian faith, a faith that teaches us the worth and the dignity of every human being. May your sons and daughters be free of any prejudices and hang ups that may be part of your lives. May they see in every person they meet as they live out their lives a brother of sister a person for whom Christ was born in Bethlehem and died on Calvary. Teach them to see in every person they meet a son or daughter of our loving Father regardless of the person’s race, color, creed or life style. Nourish your children’s faith by giving them a living example of your faith through your attendance at Sunday Mass and by family prayer. The prayer said over parents at a child’s baptism says to parents – you are the first teachers of your children in the ways of faith, may you also be the best of teachers by what you say and what you do. Our faith and our values come to us through osmosis from our parents.

You’ve probably seen that poster titled ‘Children learn what they live’. Here are a few lines to keep in mind;

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.

But

If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves..
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

Parenting is not an easy vocation. Some of you may be saying to yourselves, he doesn’t know the half of it.. I know, I took the easy way out. As we celebrate the birth of the Christ child may all you good parents, single parents and grandparents be blessed with the grace of treasuring your sons and daughters, your grandchildren, they are your your treasures, they are your future.

May we all be blessed with a peaceful and holy Christmas as we celebrate the birth of Mary’s child, Jesus the babe of Bethlehem.

Posted in Homily | Comments Off on Homily – December 25, 2014

Homily – December 21, 2014

Sunday, December 21st, 2014

Today’s gospel tells of that moment in time when God intruded into the lives of a young engaged couple living in a backwater village called Nazareth. Theirs was a simple life. The engaged Mary was probably making plans for her upcoming wedding. It would be a simple affair. Her future husband probably 16 years old, was an apprenticed carpenter and like Mary a person of limited means.

Luke’s telling of the angel’s visit to Mary and the consequences of that visit, that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and the power of the most high would overshadow her and her child would be holy and called the Son of God teaches us that the history of Jesus does not emerge out of the stream of ongoing history but tells us of the transcendental origin of the history of Jesus. God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, one is being with the Father.

Gabriel promised Mary her son would be great, and would be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end.’

Mary’s answer to Gabriel’s mysterious message was, ‘be it done to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed and Mary’s life began to be complicated. When she returned home after going to help her aged cousin Elizabeth with the birth of John the Baptist, Mary’s pregnancy was obvious. Young Joseph was at his wits end. He decided to divorce Mary quietly, there would be no scandal. Then God intruded into Joseph’s life too. Trusting in the mysterious ways of God Joseph took Mary as his wife.

This Thursday we will be celebrating the birthday of Mary’s first born child.

Pope Paul V1 described Mary as ‘she whose life was available to God.’ She never took back her words,’ be it done unto me according to your word.’ Those words would cost Mary. She endured the long journey to Bethlehem and gave birth in stable. At Joseph’s insistence they fled to Egypt to protect their child’s life. After years of what we know as the ‘hidden years’ Jesus began to preach to the people that the kingdom of God was near. Mary must have worried about him as reports came back to Nazareth that Jesus was upsetting and making enemies of powerful people in Jerusalem. Then Mary was brought the startling news of Jesus’ arrest, his quick trial and his death sentence. Mary rushed to be with her son. We can’t imagine what went through her mind as she stood at the cross and looked at the beaten and naked body to which she had given birth. We can wonder if she remembered the words we just heard in the gospel; he will be great and the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end.’ Such a memory would test her faith. How can this be – be it done unto me according to your word. Mary was ever faithful to these words even as she helped lay the body of Jesus in a borrowed tomb.

If we think about it, every time we say the Our Father we echo Mary’s words, be it done to be according to your word. Every time we say the Our Father we too make our lives available to God as we say ‘thy kingdom come, thy will be done.’ These are easy words to say but not easy words to live especially when things go wrong in our lives. Thy will be done may challenges us to accept an unexpected illness in our life or a death of one we love. Thy will be done will challenge us to struggle with living Christ’s great commandment, ‘love one another as I have loved you or forgiving someone who has really wronged us. Be it done to me – these were no easy words for Mary to live – thy will be done – are not easy words for us to live, but we try and as always, some days we win and some days we lose.

As we come closer to the birth of Jesus we ask his loving and faithful mother for the help we need to say, with as much generosity as we can – be it done to me according to your word and like Mary try to make our lives available to God as we pray, thy will be done.

Posted in Homily | Comments Off on Homily – December 21, 2014

Bulletin – December 21, 2014

Sunday, December 21st, 2014

O God,
whose mighty Son was born in Bethlehem
those days long ago,
lead us to that same poor place,
where Mary laid her tiny Child.
And as we look on in wonder and praise,
make us welcome him in all new life,
see him in the poor,
and care for his handiwork, the earth, the sky and the sea.
O God, bless us again in your great love.
We pray for this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Christmas Schedule 2014

MASSES

CHRISTMAS EVE – Wednesday, December 24th
No 9:00 AM Mass
7:00 PM: Family Mass – Carol Singing
9:00 PM: Contemporary Group
12:00 AM: Midnight Mass – Adult Choir, Carol Singing
Office Open 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM only

CHRISTMAS DAY – Thursday, December 25th
10:30 AM
12:30 PM
Office Open 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM

BOXING DAY – Friday, December 26th
No Mass, Office Closed

NEW YEAR’S EVE – Wednesday, December 31st
No 9:00 AM Mass
Mass at 4:30 PM for the Feast of Mary the Mother of God
Office Open 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM only

NEW YEAR’S DAY – Thursday, January 1st
FEAST OF MARY THE MOTHER OF GOD
10:30 AM
12:30 PM
Office Closed

Parking

While parking at ground level is limited to 51 spaces, there is plenty of space in the underground parking lot. Please follow the instructions of the attendants. Do not park in front of the Church since this is a fire route and must be kept clear.

Additional parking is available on the east side of Elkhorn Public School and in the bus loop. Again, please follow the instructions of the attendant. The school requests that we do not park on the grass. Many thanks to Holly Richards, the Principal of Elkhorn Public School, for allowing us the use of the school property.

ANNOUNCED MASSES

December 22nd to December 27th, 2014

MONDAY – UMBERTO INTINI – Requested by Chiara Intini & Family
TUESDAY – ROY CELIS – Requested by Maria Lourdes Luz
WEDNESDAY – CHRISTMAS EVE
THURSDAY – CHRISTMAS DAY
FRIDAY – BOXING DAY – No 9:00 AM Mass
SATURDAY – MAURICE TEMPLO – Requested by Monica Cheng

CHRISTMAS PAGEANT

Dress Rehearsal: Sunday, December 21st at 1:30 PM

The Christmas Eve Pageant is a tradition at our church we hope to continue with again this year. But we need volunteer children to play the parts of Mary and Joseph, wise men, shepherds, angels and of course, the star. If you have a young child who would like to be in the Pageant at the 7:00 PM Mass on Christmas Eve, there is one mandatory practice for about an hour on Sunday December 21st after the 12:30 Mass in the Gabriel Room.

FAMILY MASS CHRISTMAS EVE CHILDREN’S CHOIR

Rehearsal: This Sunday, December 21st 2:00 to 4:00 PM

Each year, young people, Grade 3 and up, form a special choir for the Family Mass on Christmas Eve. Children must be at the Church by 6:00 PM. One rehearsal, which is mandatory, will be held this Sunday, December 21st from 2:00 to 4:00 PM.

Please call Marilyn Calderone at 416-618-2041 for more information.

ADVENT-SOLSTICE REFLECTION: “Shifting from Darkness to Light: Not by Passive Hope.”

This Sunday, December 21st from 7:30 to 9:30 PM

The hopeful expectation of the Advent season requires our active participation to effect change; it is not a passive hope.

By examining the recent typhoon in the Philippines, we will seek signs of active hope and reflect on the Church’s calls for ecological justice.

Please contact Elliott Allen Institute for Theology & Ecology at eaite.contact@utoronto.ca or Dennis O’Hara at dennis.ohara@utoronto.ca or 416-926-1300, ext. 3408 to register or for more information.

BLUE HYMN BOOKS

Many parishioners have been asking what happened to our Blue Hymn books. They were too large to fit easily into the pew racks. Many ended up on the floor especially at the very crowded Masses. This was a safety hazard. We are having racks made which will accommodate these hymnals in the new year.

CASSEROLES FOR THE GOOD SHEPHERD CENTRE

Your prepared casseroles (frozen please) will be collected at the Masses on the weekend of January 3rd/4th for delivery to the Good Shepherd Centre.

More volunteers are needed to help feed the hungry in our city. Please get a copy of a casserole recipe from the Parish Office and a pan and give it a try.

For more information, contact Irene Albrecht at 416 221-2791.

FINANCE CORNER

The Parish’s 2014 budgeted operating expenses average $14,550 per week.

Offertory Collection for last weekend:
Envelopes 442 $10,234
Loose Change 1,048
Weekly Portion of Pre-Authorized Giving 164 3,058
Total 606 $14,340

OFFERTORY ENVELOPES FOR 2015

The 2015 Offertory Boxed Envelopes are available in the Gathering Space. Please pick yours up as soon as possible. If you have a PAG or Donate Now account, you will still receive a smaller green box of envelopes since these include Initial, New Year’s, Christmas, Easter and Maintenance envelopes. You may contact the Parish Office if you do not have envelopes but would like a box for 2015.
Please note: All donations for 2014 must be received in the Parish Office by Tuesday, December 30th 2014 or they will not be included in your 2014 Tax Receipt.

Posted in Bulletin | Comments Off on Bulletin – December 21, 2014

Homily – December 14, 2014

Sunday, December 14th, 2014

Every now and then we may struggle through a time of crises in our lives. We may be dissatisfied with the way things are going in our marriage or a relationship or have a sense of unfulfilled possibilities in our careers. We may wonder if there is any meaning to our lives at all. What’s it all about, who am I anyway? What’s it all for? It’s all called identity crisis or midlife crisis. It can be a difficult time in our lives.

We meet John the Baptist again in today’s gospel. John the Baptist had no identity crises. He knew who he was; a voice crying out in a wilderness of doubt and uncertainty at that time. John knew what he was to do with his life, he was to ‘prepare the way of the Lord, and make straight his paths, get rid of all those barriers that hinder the growth of God’s life and love in people’s lives. John knew his vocation in life was to make way for some else, someone greater that he was, someone whose sandal strap he was unworthy to untie.

John the Baptist knew who he was and he knew who he was not; I am not the Messiah and he wouldn’t pretend to be. John’s job was to point to another and so he pointed out Jesus to his followers telling them, there is the Lamb of God, follow him. John was not the light he was to bear witness to the light. Referring to Jesus John said, I must decrease and he must increase and that’s what happened. John was beheaded in prison for telling King Herod it was not lawful for him to be married to his brother’s widow. With John’s death, his decreasing, Jesus was free to state his identity. He was anointed by God to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and set the downtrodden free.

‘I must decrease, he must increase.’ There are those who say that it was these words of John that brought the church to decide on the birth days of Jesus and John the Baptist. On June 21st we celebrate the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. From then on the days shorten. June 24th is the feast of John the Baptist and the days of the sun’s decreasing begin. Next Sunday we have the winter solstice, the shortest day of the years. Then the days begin, although very gradually, the days begin to lengthen. December 25th we celebrate the birth of Jesus and his increasing.

I must decrease and he must increase. That is the challenge of Advent and of all our lives. Our self-centeredness, our selfishness, our ‘me first’ mentality must decrease so that we may be graced with thought fullness for others, care for others, respect for others. We must decrease and Christ must increase in us so that such sins as bigotry and prejudice and racism and homophobia have no part in our relationships with others. We must decrease and Christ must increase so that our lives and hearts are with those who work for social justice, a living wage, adequate housing for all. We must decrease and Christ must increase so that we become more and more sensitive to the environmental issues of our age and make every effort to live simply that others may simply live.

As we spend these next weeks preparing materially and spiritually for the birthday of our savior, Jesus, son of God, son of Mary, may our mantra be – I must decrease, Christ must increase.

Posted in Homily | Comments Off on Homily – December 14, 2014

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »